Santorum Blasts Obama’s Foreign Policy as ‘Failure’

Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., slammed President Obama’s foreign policy decisions in a speech on Thursday, saying that the president “will not or cannot lead” America on the world stage.

In a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, Santorum called the current administration a “failure,” and outlined his own goals for America’s foreign policy.

Santorum accused Mr. Obama of not believing in the “greatness of the American experiment.”

“When he speaks of our greatness as a country, he ties it to our modern social welfare programs,” Santorum said.

The two-term former Pennsylvania senator portrayed his own foreign policy vision as a mission to promote freedom, which he said the country has lost to a “series of apologies to the world” by the president.

Santorum called the expansion of radical Islam and “militant socialism” as the two biggest threats to American security. He classified the president’s strategy as appeasement, and said it had failed to deter them.

Santorum also claimed the Obama administration has repeatedly “sided with evil” and has rewarded the regimes of Iran, Syria and Venezuela, and failed to defend allies like Israel.

On one major foreign policy issue of the day — the current crises in the Middle East — Santorum sought to depict Mr. Obama as a weak commander-in-chief. He claimed the president was “leading from behind” in Libya so that “he doesn’t have to take any political heat.” He also said that he personally was not convinced that the United States had a national interest in engaging in Libya at all, but argued that if Americans were involved, they — rather than NATO — should lead.

Santorum also said that he would have supported ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who had been a long-time U.S. ally. He said he found it inexplicable that the Obama administration did not do so.

Santorum’s visit to D.C. comes between stops in Iowa earlier this week and New Hampshire this coming weekend. He has announced that he is “testing the waters,” but hinted Thursday that he was moving closer to formally entering the race. Speaking with reporters after his speech, Santorum said he would make an announcement “shortly,” possibly before the first GOP presidential debate scheduled for next Thursday in Greenville, S.C.

When asked about his ambition to run, Santorum responded, “overall, we’re moving in that direction.”